Wendy Cope
| birth_place = Erith, Kent, England | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Poet | nationality = | citizenship = British | education = History | alma_mater = St Hilda's College, Oxford | period = 1980-present | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = If I Don't Know | spouse = | partner = Lachlan Mackinnon | children = | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | awards = Cholmondeley Award, 1987 1995 Michael Braude Award for Light Verse | signature = | website = | portaldisp = }} Wendy Cope, OBE (born 21 July 1945) is a contemporary English poet. Life Cope was born in Erith, Kent, and educated at Farringtons School, Chislehurst, London. She read history at St Hilda's College, Oxford. Following her graduation from St Hilda', Cope spent fifteen years as a primary-school teacher. In 1981, she became Arts and Reviews editor for the Inner London Education Authority magazine, Contact. Five years later she became a freelance writer and was a television critic for The Spectator magazine until 1990. Four collections of her adult poetry have been published, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis in 1986, Serious Concerns in 1992, If I Don't Know in 2001, and Family Values in 2011. She has also edited several anthologies of comic verse and was a judge of the 2007 Man Booker Prize. In April 2011, the British Library purchased Cope's archive including manuscripts, school reports and 40,000 emails, the largest email archive they have bought to date. The papers also includes 67 poetry notebooks and unpublished poems. Cope commented "I wanted to find a good home for my archive. The timing was dictated because we had to move home, so we needed some money to buy a house, and the space. So this was the moment. I asked Andrew Motion what I should do, and he told me someone to approach at the British Library. I wasn't sure they would want it, but they did." When the collection is catalogued and organised, the archive will be available to researchers.[http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/20/wendy-cope-archive-british-library The Guardian "Wendy Cope's archive sold to British Library"] 20 April 2011 She lives in Ely, Cambridgeshire, with the poet Lachlan Mackinnon. Writing Despite Cope's slight output, her books have sold well and she has attracted a popular following with her lighthearted, often comical poetry, as well as achieving literary credibility, winning two awards and making an award shortlist over a 14-year period. She has a keen eye for the everyday, mundane aspects of English life, especially the desires, frustrations, hopes, confusions and emotions in intimate relationships.Profile at Poetry Archive Dr Rowan Williams is a well known fan of her work, writing that: "Wendy Cope is without doubt the wittiest of contemporary English poets, and says a lot of extremely serious things"."poetryarchive.org" A Tour of the Archive with Dr Rowan Williams Some of her poems are written in the persona of a struggling male poet, Jake Strugnell, a slightly seedy figure from Tulse Hill. She displays her talent for parody with targets ranging from the sonnets of Sir Philip Sidney: My true love hath my heart and I have hers We swapped last Tuesday and felt quite elated But now whenever one of us refers To 'my heart' things get rather complicated. to reducing T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land to limericks: In April one seldom feels cheerful; Dry stones, sun and dust make me fearful; Clairvoyants distress me, Commuters depress me — Met Stetson and gave him an earful. Her style has been compared to that of John Betjeman and Philip Larkin. Recognition In 1998, Cope was voted the listeners' choice in a BBC Radio 4 poll to succeed Ted Hughes as Poet Laureate.[http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jun/02/hayfestival2008.guardianhayfestival. The Guardian "Wendy Cope: I don't want to be laureate" 2 June 2008] When Andrew Motion's term as Poet Laureate came to an end in 2009, Cope was again widely considered a popular candidate, although she believes the post should be discontinued.Youtube - University Challenge - Jesus, Oxford vs Warwick. Part 2 of 3. Cope was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours. In 2008 Cope's poem "After The Lunch" was used as the lyric of the song "Waterloo Bridge" by jazz composer and musician Jools Holland and singer Louise Marshall. Publications Poetry *''Across the City'' edition. Berkhamsted, Herts., UK: Priapus Press, 1980. *''Spring Offensive''. Starwheel Press, 1981. *''Hope and the 42''. Leamington Spa, UK: Other Branch Readings, 1984. *''Poem from a Colour Chart of House Paints'' edition. Berkhamsted, Herts., UK: Priapus Press, 1986. *''Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis''. London & Boston: Faber, 1986. *''Men and Their Boring Arguments''. Wykeham, 1988. *''Does She Like Word Games?'' London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1988. *''Serious Concerns''. London & Boston: Faber, 1992. *''The Squirrel and the Crow'' (with John Vernon Lord). Alton, Hampshire, UK: Prospero Poets / Clarion Publishing, 1994. *''Being Boring: Poems''. Auralia Press, 1998. *''If I Don't Know''. London: Faber, 2001. *''Two Cures for Love: Selected poems, 1979-2006''. London: Faber, 2008. *''Family Values''. London: Faber & Faber, 2011. Juvenile *''Twiddling Your Thumbs: Hand rhymes'' (illustrated by Sally Kindberg). London & Boston: Faber, 1988. *''The River Girl'' (illustrated by Nicholas Garland). . London & Boston: Faber, 1991. *''Going for a Drive'' (illustrated by Charlotte Middleton). London: Collins Educational, 2010. *''Time for School (illustrated by Mike Phillips). London: Collins Educational, 2013. '' Edited *''Is That The New Moon?: Poems by Women Poets''. London: Lions, 1989; new edition, London: Collins, 2002. *''The Orchard Book of Funny Poems'' (illustrated by A. Vesey). London: Orchard Books, 1993. **revised as The Big Orchard Book of Funny Poems (illustrated by A. Vesey). London: Orchard Books, 2000. *''The Funny Side: 101 humorous poems''. London: Faber, 1988. *''The Faber Book of Bedtime Stories''.London: Faber, 1999. *''Heaven on Earth: 101 happy poems''. London: Faber, 2001. *''George Herbert: Verse and prose''. London: Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK), 2003. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Wendy Cope, WorldCat, OCLC, Web. Jan. 1, 2014. Audio / video *''Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis''. London: Faber Audiobooks, 1996. *''The Funny Side: 101 humorous poems'' (cassette). London: Penguin Audiobooks, 1998. *''Wendy Cope: Reading from her poems''. London: Poetry Archive, 2006. See also * List of British poets References External links ;Poems *[http://www.elsewhere.org/journal/archives/2005/04/03/waste-land-limericks/ Waste Land Limericks] *Wendy Cope b. 1945 at the Poetry Foundation. ;Books * ;Audio / video *Wendy Cope (b. 1945) at The Poetry Archive . *BBC profile and video ;About *Wendy Cope at NNDB. * *National Portrait Gallery profile and portrait *[http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=16377 Interview with Cope from Dreamcatcher No 15 - 2005] Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford Category:English poets Category:English women writers Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Category:Formalist poets Category:People from Erith Category:People from Winchester Category:Women poets Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Cholmondeley Award winners Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:21st-century poets Category:21st-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Humorous poets